Friday, June 29, 2012

Abbey's Tips: Dog Mauling Strategy

Abbey's Tip #1: If you are on a walk with your kids, and are attacked by a dog, throw your kids into a trash can.

My commentary: Every mother (I think) has a fear of dog attacks.  When you are walking with your kid in a stroller, they're right at dog-mouth height.  Every so often you hear those dog mauling stories on the news, and why shouldn't there be a crazy dog at the park?  Even if you are wearing your kid- wait- no, you ARE safer if you are wearing your kid!  Because you'll have time to run to the trash can!
The only flaw in Abbey's tip is that you're not guaranteed to be close to a trash can- but if you are babywearing, the dog has to drag YOU down to get to your kid, and of course your supermom strength will prevent or at least delay that. So, a corollary of this safety tip is, "Babywear your baby anywhere you might encounter dogs."  Surely that's reasonable?  
One more corollary to this safety tip is, "The tops of trash cans are removable, so if your kid can't fit through the hole on the top, take the top of the trash can off."  A nanny at a park taught me this one. I said to her, "That ride on toy is broken, so I put it outside the playground fence."  She walked over to the toy, picked it up, took off the top of a huge trash can, and put the toy inside. "Oh my god," I said, "I would never have thought of taking the top off of that."  

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